Sauerkraut 2018

This year’s pilgrimage included a trip to the cabbage farm followed by a pheasant hunt on opening day in Somerset County with Cooper and a pit stop to Whitehorse Brewing for some Packsaddle Ales . Over the next couple weeks, we had quite October stomp action with the kiddos and even little Declan baby got in on the action. This year I felt confident enough to let Jack do some of the shredding and put Hunter on the salt. Of course everyone stomped.

Part of the tradition has evolved into pumpkin carving while we stomp. It is truly a Fall celebration.

Sauerkraut Stomp '17

It's a fairly predictable event that it will rain on a Sunday in late October and there is no better time to get our sauerkraut stomp on with the kids.  This year, my father-in-law really led the whole effort with the kids as I did a thousand other things plus carved some pumpkins.  The best part of this whole tradition is spending time with the family.

This year, we even had a debut appearance by one week-old, Declan.  My wife was none-too- pleased with my decision to drag him out into the cold, but it really is a family right of passage.  And, it will be great to benchmark him up against this crock next year to see how much's he's grown! 

One unintentional outcome of celebrating the annual family tradition is a a get a yearly data point with the kids with the same brown crock as a reference to how much changes in just one year!   Not even first-day-of school and Christmas can benchmark a year like that brown crock. 

...For proof to this, here is some pictures from October of 2015. 

Yes the garage was much cleaner too!

Cabbage Voyage to Somerset County

This year was not the year we needed to make the trip to Somerset county to get the cabbage for sauerkraut.  We have some kraut left from last year and we are busier than ever in preparation for the new baby.  My wife bestowed this logic upon me multiple times, along with the fact I tend to take on too much.  She may be correct, but I was adamant that it still just had to happen.  The torch has been passed to me and so I go get cabbage each Fall.  It's simple; it's tradition.   Plus, I love the process and it creates an excuse to hit the Laurel Highlands in the peak of the Fall season.  

Upon arrival at Lehman's cabbage farm, I was greeted by the two largest Rottweilers I've ever seen in my life.  I asked the farmer how big they were and he said 'bout 200 lbs'.  That's the size of a bear.  Considering the beast's head was 5-7 times the size of a head of cabbage, I don't think he was lying.   My next question was are they friendly with kids.  He didn't have to answer that one...his hesitation before his uncertain answer was all I needed.  Needless to say, the kids stayed in the truck the entire time.  So, I loaded 250 pounds of the best cabbage in the country and we rolled.  

The kids were ready to be out of the truck, so we made up for it with a wonderful hike in Laurel Highlands State Park.  I love this part and I love the delayed harvest section of the trout stream. The water was low which allowed for some real life Q*Bert on the rocks that were exposed from the recent drought and an old dead fall allowed them to practice their balancing skills.  It was the peak of the Fall foliage and about 70 degrees.  It was a prefect day and we even watched a few trout rising in the stream.  

2016 Sauerkraut stomp

Like everything else (fishing, camping, holidays, etc) life experiences just keep getting better each year with the kids.  Stomping sauerkraut was no different.  I remember when Jack and Clara were less than a year old and I propped them up on my leg just to barely hold the stomper, in a ceremonial fashion.  This year, they were full of excitement and fought over the turn to stomp the kraut.  They had a blast and that's what it's all about.

In fact, Jack was so excited he broke his first crock with the stomper.  As my Uncle Joe told me, my Pap has broken many of crocks in his day and he would be proud.  Fortunately, we had a backup crock, so we moved the cabbage over and kept on stomping.  

Family Traditions

For many decades my Pap, Dad, and Uncle have made the annual pilgrimage up to Lehman Brothers Farm in Berlin, Somerset County, PA to get the highest quality cabbage in the country.   This cabbage is dense like a bowling ball and is the secret to the high quality sauerkraut we make each fall.  

This picture of my Pap, at age 92, is one of my all time favorites.  I get lost thinking of my Pap's entire life experiences in this one picture.  For me, it's so deep.  

We took the kids up to the farm and got a very similar picture.   Similar to the picture of my Pap, I get lost staring into the eyes of these kids .   I feel like I am staring directly into the history and generations of our family.  Without my Pap and Dad now, these kids gives me so much happiness knowing the family traditions live on.  

New 40L 'kraut crock

Got my new German style 40L (~10.5 gallon) crock for mass production of sauerkraut for 2015.  I currently have a 20L and an old style crock, but needed this bigger model for the amount we eat and amount I give away.  The 'Nik Schmitt' fermentation crocks are the secret to making sauerkraut.

2014 Sauerkraut Stomp

The annual family tradition - cabbage from Somerset County and spending time with the kids stomping kraut for New Year's and 2015.  We expanded this year and did a couple hundred pounds of cabbage in a few different crocks.  Going to be a healthy 2015!

Sauerkraut 2013

Sauerkraut season is on for 2013.  The Somerset farmer we typically buy from lost his crop due to the floods this year, but my buddy was able to find us some cabbage for the year.  We'll see how this batch turns out for New Year's.